9 Hours 9 Nations 9 Doors
by Mesua Ferrea
Summary: They only have 9 hours to make it out alive. Will they make it?  Crossover between Hetalia and 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors. Interactive story game. Rating subject to change.
1. Prologue

A/N : Hey people, I'll (hopefully, if all goes well) be writing a fic with my friend, codename Chester, and it will be a crossover with the DS game Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and Axis Powers Hetalia. We need to gauge the interest in a fic like this before we go ahead and write it, because, as anyone who has played the game knows, it is a fairly complex game with multiple scenarios. Also, it will be written as a choose your own adventure story, meaning that to cover all the different paths all the parts need to be done at once. The premise is basically that nine people are put on a ship and are given nine hours to navigate through numbered doors to reach door nine and escape the ship, which is sinking. The nine characters will be from Hetalia and you won't get to know who they actually are and why they are there until the story is completed. Now the real game has far more combinations for one to screw up in, but we are not going to make this too complex. It will be assumed that the main character chose the right answer in the first place to certain sets of dialogue.

My friend and I both despise the idea to force people to review or answer polls to continue this but it's more of a necessity. This story will take a long time to complete and we want to write this with the knowledge that some people are interested in this. We are hoping for at least 10 reviews and for people to answer the poll I set up on my profile before we (decide to) begin to write seriously, so if you would like to see this become a reality, then drop a review and answer that poll!

Warnings: Mild graphic descriptions (gore) and mind-screwy-ness for later chapters.

Characters: None (for you to see anyway)

Pairings: None

Word count: 94

Disclaimers: Hetalia and 999 belong to their respective creators. We merely decided to mesh the two together.

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><p>This game is fiction.<p>

All names, characters and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious.

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><p>The night was cool and foggy. A ship sailed out of the gloom, its three red and black smokestacks billowing. The only noise seemed to be the sound of the prow cutting through the choppy waves. However, if anyone had been nearby, they would have heard a soft ticking noise echoing through the night...<p>

9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...

BOOM

An explosion tore through the midsection of the ship, letting the sea flow into the darkness within...

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><p><strong>Proceed to: The Third Class Cabins<strong>

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><p>AN: Here's the prologue. This chapter was supposed to include our main character, however we felt it would be best to divide what happens by rooms and events. The first room will be up sometime later this week (hopefully) as well as instructions.

Make sure to review this and the next chapter (when it is out).  
>Remember we want at least 10 reviews and for people answer the poll on my profile page.<p> 


	2. The Third Class Cabins

A/N: Here is the part that should have been part of the prologue. You now get to meet our first victim of the game.

The reception we got from the prologue was alright, but please remember we want **10 reviews** and for people to **vote **to see if it is worthwhile to continue and make the different branches of the story.

Anyway, here is the first part of the instructions as to how to play the game.

Every time you restart the game, you start at the prologue. The next scene you jump to is this one. At the end of every chapter, it tells you where to go or you choose where to go between the options given. After the next chapter, each chapter will be renamed something strange so that there is nothing to spoil the surprise. This is where following the "proceed to" or "decide between and go to" is important.

If you have completed scenes before, you can jump to the end of the chapter and read the overview since you probably have read it before.

In the game, there are puzzles and its beginning is indicated by "seek a way out" and the ending is by "you found it." This is where the story is more interactive but because this is the story, we decided with the idea that the character will move on their own.

Warnings: Language, potential OOCness, violence, gore, mind screwyness, Canadian spelling (Chester:"I like my American spelling of 'color' thank you"), etc...

Character: UK (and our first nation has been revealed!)

Pairings: None

Word count: 3569

Disclaimers: Hetalia and 999 belong to their respective creators. We merely decided to mesh the two together. Like seriously, don't sue.

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><p>A loud noise rudely awakened Arthur, causing his verdant eyes to snap open. He quickly closed his eyes again as the light assaulted him. Cautiously, he attempted to open his eyes again. As his sight adjusted to the room's artificial lighting, he realized he did not recognize his surroundings.<p>

A loud crack echoed through the room as the Englishman's head collided with a metal object when he abruptly tired to sit up, causing him to yelp.

"Blimey!"

He fell onto his back and rolled over from the pain, and attempted to latch onto something to steady himself, but he found his hand grabbing at air as he continued rolling.

Thanks to imbalance combined with a mind full of jumbled thoughts on his current situation, the Briton became acquainted the cold, grey, metal floor. He had fallen. Hard.

"Bloody hell!" He screeched. "What in blazes? Gah!" He began to sputter indignantly, unable to convey his feelings.

Arthur massaged his sore head as he begun to survey his surroundings, since he still had no clue as to where he was.

The fall had cleared his foggy mind, leaving him alert. He now realized that he had fallen from the topmost part a 3-level bunk.

Aside from his head, his shoulders ached, his knee was slightly scratched, his hip was starting to bruise... His entire body hurt. This pain was familiar for the Briton, due to the many battles he fought over the years, but nonetheless past experiences did not dull the ache.

He brought a calloused hand to his forehead and could feel swelling where his head had slammed into the low ceiling.

This made the man question if the bump was the reason for his shaky vision. The room would not stop wavering. The Brit almost passed it off for his legs being shaky from the abrupt awakening and the after effects of the fall, but he looked around and realized it wasn't him... The entire room was trembling.

He quickly began to ponder if the shaking was the result of an earthquake but it didn't seem too likely, since the vibrations were far too quick.

Arthur was baffled. He had no idea what was happening if the tremors weren't due to an earthquake. What was it?

He fastidiously climbed to his feet, his balance slowly returning.

He surveyed the room. "Where...Am I...?" he muttered to himself in disbelief.

Minutes passed by in an agonizing manner while Arthur struggled to acquire his thoughts.

Abruptly, the room became silent, the tremors mysteriously ceasing.

The silence became deathly in the unfamiliar room, but soon metallic creaking could be heard.

His stomach clenched. Arthur knew from experience that this sound was not good. Not good at all. There were a few possibilities as to what the sound could have been, and all options were unfavourable.

Arthur surveyed the small, unfamiliar room once more in an attempt to locate the source of the noise.

In one corner, there was an antique stove from around the late 1800s, early 1900s. However, there was no coal in the room so its function, at best, was merely decorative in the plain room.

The 3-level bunk bed had mattresses so thin they caused the empire to cringe as he imagined laying on one for any stretch of time. His back would be in much pain tomorrow from sleeping (although not purposely) on one of those things. On the opposite side, there was another identical bunk. A rusty iron door was set into the cream coloured metal wall between the two beds.

The door had a number poorly adorned on its rough surface. On its surface, in a colour eerily similar to that of fresh blood, was the number [5].

"[5]...? What in bloody hell does [5] mean..."

Arthur warily approached the door. He was not comfortable with the situation, and wavered slightly as his hand slowly reached for the handle to escape the room. He jostled the doorknob in an attempt to open the door. The door would not open when pushed (or even body-checked), nor when it was pulled.

The Briton tried to swallow the desperation that welled within him and stepped away from the door. No matter what he did, the door would not open and he knew that. It would be futile to waste any more energy trying to make the handle budge.

Arthur looked to the right side of the door and notice that an strange device that looked like a card reader was installed, obviously connected to the door. Arthur realized that this thing was keeping him in.

Desperation overwhelmed the Briton and he started pounding on the door. He needed out. _Now_.

"Hello? Hello! Is anyone out there? I demand that you wankers open this door right now! This is hardly funny!"

He did not receive an answer, and in frustration Arthur slammed the door with his fist one more time then abruptly stopped.

"What in Queen Victoria's graces is this..." he choked out as words escaped the sharp-tongued empire.

On his left wrist was a red bracelet with a LCD display. In the center of the display was a red [5].

"[5]? It's... It's the same number as on the door... but what does that mean?"

This was all too strange for his liking and he wanted the bracelet off _now_. He quickly flipped his wrist over to remove the watch but there were no buckles or clasps to take it off. Absolutely nothing.

He flipped his wrist once more and noticed there were rivets around the face of the bracelet; he began pressing them in a pitiful attempt to remove the bracelet, but still nothing happened. The rivets seemed to be totally useless.

Arthur was at a loss on what to do.

He was tempted to claw at the god-awful device, regardless of how futile his attempts would be.

"Calm down old chap," he whispered to himself, "You're the bloody United Kingdom and such a small thing like this shouldn't affect you."

He was still frustrated and afraid, but he could not let his emotions get the better of him anymore. He would use his past experiences to remain calm and detached. He could deal with this and would adapt.

"I don't know what the bloody hell happened, but when I get down to the bottom of this, whoever dared to toy with the British Empire will feel the full force of my wrath."

Arthur then noticed a window on the opposite side of the room. It was round and rimmed in riveted brass just like the windows from ships around the early 20th century.

"What the...? How could I have not noticed it sooner? I'm on a ship," he weakly chuckled as he slowly walked towards the window.

Arthur peered through the port window but could discern nothing in the thick, impenetrable darkness.

At that moment the glass began to crack.

"Bloody hell!" Arthur jumped back from the window. "You have got to be kidding me! There is no way in hell this is happening! Stop cracking at once!"

The glass shattered and water began to flood in.

"Blimey! Oh bollocks!"

Arthur quickly sprinted to the door, nearly slipping on the wet surface as he ran. Desperation hit him hard once more and pounded at the door.

"Hello! Anyone! Is anyone there? Fuck, I don't care if it's Francis, Alfred or Alistair! Someone just answer me!"

Once again, there was no reply.

The water continued to rise at an alarming pace as the Briton yelled and slammed into the door. It was now ankle-deep, soaking his leather shoes and wool socks. Things were looking absolutely terrible. Completely and truly.

Arthur needed to find a way out. _Now_.

He brought a quivering hand to his forehead to wipe the sweat forming there and once more, looked around the room.

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><p><strong>Seek a way out.<strong>

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><p>Arthur immediately noticed a blue suitcase sitting on the lowest bunk of the bed group he had fell from. It looked fairly normal, but was extremely out of place for the room. Arthur splashed over to it and picked it up.<p>

It was locked. On the top, there was a keyhole and a four digit combination lock. He tried to move the dials, but with little success.

"It seems I need the key before I can work this" he mumbled, throwing the case back down on the bed and turning to the stove on his left.

There was a rusted iron kettle on top of it. He pulled the top off and peered inside. There was a small blue key inside.

"Must be for the suitcase" he thought, grabbing it and replacing the lid. He bent down and pulled open the door on the furnace, noticing as he did that the water was past his ankles. He swore, relishing in the vocabulary of his seafaring days. Looking inside the furnace, he noticed something with color beneath the ashes. He grabbed it. It was a red screwdriver.

"Might be useful later" he said as he pocketed the tool.

To his left, there was an accordion door separating a small alcove from the rest of the room. He pulled it open, letting some of the water from the room flow into the space. On the ledge below a few clothes hangers there was another suitcase, identical to the last one, except this time red like his "watch". Its location was noted as Arthur spun around to look at the rest of the room. To his left was the window, still letting the water pour in like a waterfall, and a sink and bulletin board he had overlooked in his original overview of the room. Stuck to the board with a tack was a strange slip of paper with two red and two blue triangles and an arrow on it going from the red to the blue side on it.

"This looks important" the Brit murmured, pocketing the paper so he would not drop and ruin it with the water. Below the board was a black and white picture of what appeared to be a boat (the glass was so filthy it was hard to tell) in a beat up wooden frame. His fingers brushed screw heads on the back of the frame.

His eyes widened and he pulled the screwdriver from his pocket and removed the backing of the picture. The photo fell into his hands. It was in fact a boat. A boat with three tall smokestacks, coming out of the mist. The ship looked somehow familiar to Arthur, but he had no time to dwell on that now. The water was fast approaching mid calf, both panicking Arthur and making him shiver at its icy touch. On the back of the photo was a series of triangles and squares numbered one through ten, either coloured in or empty in the centre. The symbols matched up with the ones on the card he had found earlier. Arthur assumed that he would need to locate one more card before attempting to open the cases, as there were only two shapes of each color, which translated to only half of the numbers he needed to open the locks on the cases. Plus, he needed another key to unlock the red cases' combination lock.

On the wall beside the door, Arthur spied what looked like a roll up map in the down position. He strained through the water that was now definitely approaching his knees to get to the map like object. He pulled the bottom, disengaging the lock at the top, and the screen flew up with a loud snap. There, on the tarnished mirror that had been covered by the screen, was the red key, held up by tape.

Arthur quickly grabbed the key and fumbled a bit when he shoved it into his pocket. The thought of dropping the key made the man slightly wince as he couldn't afford to spare any time if anything were to fall into the rising water.

He intended to quickly resume his search of the room, but... he was distracted by something.

The reflection in the mirror was unfamiliar to the Briton. He couldn't even recognize himself, which worried and startled him greatly.

"Blimey! What has happened to me?"

The ever so regal gentleman looked scruffy. His face was of a ghastly colour and his skin looked stretched over his cheekbones. It was as if he was looking at death in the face.

"Why I never! This appearance is unbefitting one like myself," he scolded himself. His dishevelled appearance made the man once more utter the unsolvable question, "how did I end up here and like this?"

Then it had hit him. His memories began to recollect and he now knew how he got here.

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><p>It was past midnight in Arthur's home in London. The Westminster's Quarters had moments ago in the dark night, signalling twelve o'clock.<p>

Arthur quickly opened the door to his home hoping that he wouldn't run into any stray fairies that wanted to enjoy their time in the moonlight. They were always so feisty at these sorts of hours.

He quickly stepped into his old home. He had lived here for centuries but an outsider wouldn't be able to tell. He often refurbished the place to fall in line with the standards of modern times.

Upon entering, Arthur flicked on the lights and his chandelier in the entrance shone as brightly as a beacon. Everything was in tip top shape, just as how he left it.

Items from his days of being an empire peppered his abode and added a regal feel to the place. Arthur enjoyed this feeling the most, and almost missed his days as an empire.

Then a sensation hit Arthur. Something was disturbing the character of his home. His home would normally slightly smell of rain (giving where he lived), but not to this extent. He walked to his living room, sensing a draft.

Silk curtains he had obtained from China after his triumph in the Opium wars fluttered in the night breeze around a very open window.

The Englishman froze.

He would never pull a blunder like this and leave his windows open when he wasn't home.

Slowly, the man approached to his windows. There were no signs of a forced entry. The Briton wanted to convince himself that he did leave the window open, but something was gnawing at his chest and saying otherwise.

He pulled closed the window and then it happened.

In the reflection of the glass was an unknown figure. Arthur spun around to face the mysterious figure that was all cloaked in black like the reaper of death. What surprised him most, though, was his face.

A gas mask with huge eyes and double filters covered all his features, making identification impossible.

Arthur tried to cast a spell as quickly as he could to escape the figure but could not complete the enchantment. He had failed to notice the white smoke surrounding him that was lulling him into a state of unconsciousness.

His legs buckled, unwilling to support the Briton, and Arthur collapsed onto the floor.

He saw a silver world war two era canister releasing the gas into his home under the couch. Arthur mentally cursed himself for failing to notice the thing right away. He should have been aware as the many wars he fought taught him how to best lethal gases.

The smoke had completely engulfed the room and it reminded Arthur of the Great London Smog disaster. He could not see a thing.

The Englishman's vision became hazy, not from the smoke, but from his body trying to force him into an artificial slumber.

A distorted, cold voice broke the silence in the room.

"Consider this a privilege. You have been chosen."

Arthur could not help but wince at how harsh the tone was. How demeaning.

"You are going to participate in a game. The [Nonary Game]. It is a game... where you will put your life on the line."

That voice was the last thing he could process before his mind succumbed to the effects of the white mist.

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><p>"That wanker," he began as he clenched his teeth, "how dare he do this, and with his demeaning tone nonetheless. I am the United Kingdom and he... he is... absolutely despicable!" Arthur sputtered to no one in particular. "He must have brought me here to this awful place."<p>

The stranger who had kidnapped him was in it for it now. Even though Arthur had no clues as to who he (or she, as he realized) may have been. The man had a perfect disguise. Too bad. The Briton would have loved to find and kill that person.

But a question still stood out in his mind. Why? He was chosen for a game, this _Nonary Game_, but he had no idea what sort of sick and twisted game it really was. His life was on the line and that didn't seem to faze the perpetrator. His _life_ was on the line, not just his bloody home or empire!

Arthur tore his gaze from the mirror, once again realizing his predicament. The water was now at his knees.

"Cor blimey."

Arthur powered his way through the water to the blue suitcase on the bunk to his left. He stopped abruptly.

"Bloody hell, where is the other card?"

He had looked at everything of interest in the room, so where could it be? Suddenly, realization dawned upon him.

"THE BEDCLOTHES!"

Tearing through the bunks proved to be successful, since under one of the pillows he located the second slip of paper, this time with the arrow going from the blue to red sides. He made his way back to the blue case and inserted the key. It slid in easily, and Arthur smiled. The dials read "0101". Using the back of the picture as a key, he decoded the two slips of paper, going from left to right inserting numbers as he went. When the dials read "0263", he heard a click, and the lid popped open.

"Brilliant!"

Inside the case was a file, a calculator, a pencil, a notebook, and three key cards with the numbers 6, 7, and 8 on them. He read the file aloud in an attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"Compute a [digital route] with the following steps: First, add all the numbers in question to one another. If you end up with something greater than a single-digit number, add the digits to one another. For instance, if you have a double-digit number, add the number in the [tens place] to the number in the [ones place]. Keep adding digits in this manner until you have a single digit answer. That final digit is your [digital route]. Example: [The digital route] of (678) would be 6+7+8=21 2+1= [3]. Therefore, the [digital route] of (678) is [3]. Well then, good to know."

He moved to open the second case, the red one. He inserted the key and solved the puzzle again, this time entering "7485" to open the case. Inside there was three more key cards. These had the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on them. He waded as best as he could back to the key-card reader next to the door. He swiped three cards at random through the slit, watching as three red asterisks showed up on the LCD screen.

"Thank god, escape!" He pulled the leaver. The machine beeped and the light on it stayed red. He stared at the card reader. Seconds passed.

"GODDAMN IT WHY THE BLAZING HELL WILL THIS INFERNAL DOOR NOT OPEN! Alright, keep calm old chap, you can figure this out, don't panic..." Nonetheless, he started to panic. The Brit swiped the cards through the reader again and again, but to no avail.

"WAIT! THE DIGITAL ROUTE!" He felt like jumping for joy! Doing a quick mental calculation, he selected the 6, 7, and 1 cards.

"6+7+1 is 14. 1+4 is 5. This has better bloody work." He pulled the lever. The machine beeped and the light turned blue. He heard a loud thunk coming from the wall beside the door. Realizing that had happened, Arthur grasped the handle and pulled down.

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><p><strong>You found it.<strong>

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><p>The door flew open from the force of the water rushing out, sending a sputtering Arthur into the hallway on top of a little wave and into the opposing wall. He pulled himself up and watched as the water flowed out of the room, then splashed up the bottom two steps of a short staircase at the end of the narrow hallway he found himself in. At the top of the staircase was an iron door.<p>

"Thank goodness!" Arthur sprinted to the door, feet splashing in the water lapping at his ankles. He slammed into the door, opening it and falling flat on his face onto a beautifully tiled floor. He pulled himself up, and his eyes widened in amazement.

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><p><strong>Proceed to: Outside Doors [4] and [5]<strong>

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><p><strong>Quick overview for those who have completed this room previously:<strong>

Arthur wakes up in an unknown room. He comes to the realization that he is on a ship and he is wearing a red bracelet that displays the number [5]. The window within the cabin shattered and the room begins to flood. He completes the puzzle and escapes the room.

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><p>AN: And we are done the first labelled room. The next chapter will be the last labelled one and everything after that will be numbered using Roman numerals. The last set of instructions will be in the next chapter and then you will meet all the characters present on the ship.

If it wasn't too clear, Alistair is my headcanon name for Scotland. Arthur was basically calling anyone's name as he needed to escape.

Make sure to **review **and **answer the poll **on my profile page. We need at least **10** reviews and some general interest if you want us to continue it as we will release the entire story in one go after the next chapter (hopefully if we get a large enough audience).


	3. Outside Doors 4 and 5

A/N: Hey, it's Mesua Ferrea alone this time. I had a lot of fun churning out this chapter.

I only have a few things to note this chapter.

1. Zero's rules and speech have not been altered as I felt it was best to keep them as is. They did an excellent job on explaining what to do. Altering them in any way would be blasphemy!

2. I genderbended some nations as both myself and Chester felt that it would work better in the story if some nation's genders had changed.

3. You have a choice on what door to go through at the end of the chapter. Choose wisely.

4. Updates after this chapter will occur in a long time because both myself and Chester thought that the story would be better if you guys had all the parts to continue on. And yes, we decided to screw the review and poll since we really wanted to do this.

Now onto the regular stuff.

Warnings: Language, potential OOCness, gore, Canadian spelling, some characters being an asshole, mind screwiness for later chapters. etc...

Characters: UK (I'm not going to tell you everyone yet. Think of it as... a nice surprise.)

Pairings: None. (Feel free to see some interactions in whichever way you want.)

Word count: 10 687

Disclaimers: and 999 belong to their respective creators. We merely decided to mesh the two together.

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><p>"Wh-what in Queen Elizabeth's graces is going on?" The proud Briton could only sputter indignantly as his verdant eyes glanced at his new found surroundings.<p>

Polished marble floors stretched in front of him, and up above there was a gorgeous crystal chandelier. There was also an ornate grand staircase of polished mahogany wood. The railing panels, the pillars, and walls were covered in a particular style that escaped the Englishman until he realized they were Art Noveau.

It was as if Arthur had stepped back a hundred years in time. The scene caused nostalgia to engulf him, since it had been a long time since he had seen such extravagant handiwork.

This caused the Briton to question his surroundings once more. He knew he was on a ship as the room he had left prior to arriving here was completely flooded and the hallway he was in was beginning to be filled with water, but the fact he was on a luxury liner slightly bothered him.

He quickly glanced back and noticed a huge wave beginning to form and broke whatever thoughts he had as he sprinted to the staircase. His wet shoes made disgusting squelching sounds with each rushed step he took towards his only way to safety.

Upon running up the stairs, he noticed bronze plates covered in gold in a petty attempt to look expensive.

The first one he saw read [C Deck] and the next read [B Deck].

It wasn't too long until he found a way out to escape the rising water. There was no need to keep up his gentlemanly act and sedately ascended the stairs. The urgency of the situation made him skip every other step. He didn't know where he would end up next but it would be better than ending up in Davey Jones' locker.

Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur noticed another person. He abruptly stopped, his shoes making a protesting noise, and quickly tried to regain his regal demeanour despite his dishevelled look. He slowly took in what he saw and noticed that it was not only one person he saw.

On the landing left to the stairs, four familiar faces were staring at him and to the right, there were three more faces he recognized. Altogether, there were seven people. He thanked the Lord that they weren't laughing at his unruly appearance and that he wasn't alone on the God forsaken ship.

The seven people he had encountered appeared to have been making their way down the stairs but stopped moving as soon as they saw Arthur. A similar look had befallen all their faces. It was a look of shock. If Arthur had been looking into a mirror, he would have seen the same shock reflected in his visage. A few awkward moments passed as everyone continued staring at each other.

Arthur removed his left foot from the long stride he took so that he could stand tall and not look like some bumbling buffoon.

Once more, his thoughts were filled with questions. 'Why are these nations here?'

The awkward moment was cut short as a busty woman began to speak.

"It looks like there was more than just us eight," said Ukraine meekly. Arthur began to wonder why she was here until an irritated look flashed across the woman's face. "Hey, don't start losing it! Pay attention and quickly follow us! Hurry! We don't have time!"

Ukraine quickly ran past him to the set of wooden doors behind him which left the Briton quite baffled and mildly irritated. He was far from impressed with her lack of manners.

The others on the stairs quickly followed Ukraine, leaving Arthur standing alone.

The first to run past Arthur was a young man with messy wheat coloured hair. His brown leather bomber jacket, casually thrown on top of a black suit and tie, fluttered as he sprinted. It was none other than that annoying git, America.

America quickly threw a glance at England that screamed he was not impressed as he ran. He muttered to himself in that obnoxious voice, "So he was chosen as well? Well I'll be the hero and save everyone on this ship!"

Following right behind America was an older nation. His fair hair was under a navy hat and his face was devoid of any emotion. Arthur slightly shivered as the aura surrounding the nation was a tad scary.

The taller man quickly marched by with a scowl on his face and Arthur knew that the nation was Sweden.

Sweden stated, "Going up will not achieve anything. We already checked. There are two doors up above but neither of them will open even with force."

A girl was next to the towering man. Her wavy brown hair was held back by a headband and a stray curl was poking out from the right side of her head. Her high voice was laced with irritation as she spoke, "Come on you stupid bastard! Aren't you coming with us you loser! You will have to move your fat ass if you want to hurry!"

Arthur slightly winced, as her language would make even a sailor blush! Of course the Southern Italian sister would never spruce up a bit and be more lady-like.

Her hand was wrapped around the wrist of another man whose eyes were closed as if he was asleep. His features were similar to the girl holding his arm, except the one stray curl was on the other side of his head, and he was dressed in a fine Armani suit. If it weren't for the aura he emitted as being a lazy coward, one would find him to be a splendid fellow. Too bad the Northern Italy brother would never change his silly ways.

Airily in a sing song voice he cried, "Ah! That's all nine of us! Yay! Now we're all together!"

Arthur opened his mouth to challenge the fact that he said there were nine of them when, in fact, he could only see eight but the female Italy quickly dragged her brother away and left him alone with his mouth opened. This made him look rather silly so he quickly closed his mouth while anger mildly flashed through his eyes.

Two more people were approaching the Englishman as soon as the two Italians ran away.

One of the men was rather short and with dull blond hair as it remained in one place. He was shaking violently and Arthur inwardly sighed as he knew that reprimanding Latvia for that nasty habit of his would only induce him to tremor even more.

The other man had hair of similar colour but was slicked back in a clean military fashion. His run was that of a soldier and Arthur knew that Germany was very calm even though he, like them, was in an incredibly bizarre situation.

Latvia quickly scurried on by like a mouse trying to run away from a predator.

Germany abruptly stopped and glared at Arthur and yelled at him like he was some sort of idiot. "Stop standing around and make yourself useful! Everyone else is doing something to get off this ship so start doing something! Did you not pay attention to what he told you? The doors on [A Deck] are impenetrable so we are forced to check the doors on the [B Deck]! Do you understand? Now march!"

Before Arthur could retort, Germany placed his hand on Arthur's shoulder and shoved him out of the way like as if he was some sort of annoyance.

Arthur started to stumble and began flailing a tad before he could once more regain his balance. During this process, he sputtered and lightly cursed to himself. He did not appreciate how the German treated him.

Once he had regained what he had momentarily lost. Arthur, with a quick spin of the heel, turned around to see what the other nations were running towards.

There were two pairs of large iron doors set into the wall that was in front of him. They looked sturdy and probably couldn't be shoved opened, even if you had America ram into it with his unholy strength.

Just like the door in the cabin, these doors had numbers on them embellished in the colour of blood, a crimson red. The door to the right had the number [4] while the other door on the left had the number [5].

"They're the same," America quietly mumbled to himself.

Arthur had never heard the little ingrate speak as quietly as he just did.

"The room I woke up in had a number on the door just like these," he continued.

"You too?" Sweden quirked his brow and gazed at America then spoke once more. "My cell was the same. A number painted hastily on the door. When I finally opened it, I ran as fast as I could down the hallway outside the door and ended up in a grand room full of stairs. I suspect that everyone else had the same thing occur to them."

After his comments, everyone began to talk. All the statements were in a mutual agreeance. Everyone had woken up in an unfamiliar room with a locked door blocking their sole escape route, and were forced to solve a puzzle under a time restraint to escape. They then all ended up in the same room as if something was forcing- no guiding them here. The resemblances in the stories were uncanny.

Ukraine began to speak in a rather urgent voice, "Yes, we all went through the exact same thing but that's not the issue right now! We need to hurry!"

"Ha ha ha! Don't worry! The hero is here and I'll save all of you!" America boasted in an ear-grating voice.

Before Ukraine could retort, America quickly ran to the doors, specifically door number [5]. He firmly grabbed hold of the pull handles and sharply pulled. A harsh creak could be heard but to no avail, it wouldn't budge.

"Aw fucking hell! The damn door won't open! It won't even budge," he hissed.

"Move," Germany calmly said as he marched straight to the door, "You're in the way."

Germany then shoved America aside who was less than impressed for being looked down upon.

With no one in his way, he took a few steps back then flung himself at the iron doors. He did it once but nothing happened and continued. Two hits turned to three then to four and the door only slightly shook from the impact. It wasn't going to break anytime soon and any dreams of it opening were gone with it.

Frustrated, Germany threw himself at the sturdy doors once more.

Unimpressed with what was happening, Arthur turned to door [4] and examined it. There was a small box on the wall next to the door. One of the screens read 'vacant' on it in capital letters. It was very similar to the machine in his room which meant that these doors too were probably locked if they had the exact same function.

Just to be sure of his guess, Arthur approached the door, grabbed its handle and used all of his strength to pull it open.

Just as he suspected, the door wouldn't open. It was locked just like the door to its left.

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose while muttering curses. He wondered if these were the only doors they could go through until an idea hit him. He began to run to the stairs as there was still one more deck below them, the [C Deck].

Before he could even place a foot on the stairs, he immediately saw another person at the top next to the extravagant clock that was set into the wall.

It was a girl. She looked only slightly younger than Arthur but he knew that she was centuries younger than him as a nation. He stiffened and he froze in the awkward stance he had as he was unable to look away from her.

If one was to ask, the Briton would never admit he was captivated by something as silly as her beauty... No, it was something else.

Arthur knew this girl too well but something was strange. She didn't look any different from when he last saw her. Her mauve eyes still glittered and the Aurora Borealis still shone in that deep tone; her curly hair set in pigtails still cascaded over her shoulders and the tips would meet at her waist. Maple leaf clips were still in her hair but something was different and he did not know what.

The girl met his gaze and held similar emotions that were evident on her face. She was stunned.

There was a complete silence between the two. Arthur slowly made his way up the steps and the girl above him was did not move as if she was glued into that one spot. If Arthur wasn't so caught up with the girl before him, he probably would have casually blurted how she must be under a spell to not move and she would most likely giggle in response to his absurd comment.

The moment Arthur had settled himself on her landing, the resilient glue that kept her into place faltered. When he had reached the spot where she was, the ship had conveniently decided to shake. This was the second time it had happened.

A sharp gasp could be heard and the girl in front of Arthur let out a quiet 'Ah!' from the tremor taking her by surprise and she lost all balance.

Arthur immediately shifted his body to prevent the lady before him from falling but it was for nought.

The next time Arthur opened his eyes, the lady's face was mere centimetres from his own. He could feel her breath lightly on his skin which revealed that she was too close to him and this caused the man's skin to colour into a light pink hue.

Arthur was on his back and he slightly cringed at the fact. His back had taken far too much damage today and would certainly be screaming in pain the next time he woke up.

The girl had pinned him to the ground and her mouth was agape at the sudden surprise. Moments had passed and she was still on him which Arthur realized that she was still stunned by what had just happened.

In the brief pause of time, the two gazed into each other's eyes.

The ship stopped shaking and a deathly silence swept the room. If one listened close enough, they could hear the water from the decks below them sloshing against the walls but that soon became white noise as well. Because no one had listened that closely, there was a thick quiet shroud that engulfed them.

The noise soon broke as a high voice questioned, "Oh dear me... Are you okay Arthur?"

Realization had quickly hit Arthur. He was talking to Madeline. It had been ages since he last saw her (though in actuality it had only been 3 weeks). Something had changed since he last saw her but he had no idea what. Something in his mind was telling him that this girl to him was-

"Arthur?"

With his thoughts jumbled by her voice, he quietly stuttered, "Why yes I am. Thank you for asking, Madeline."

Another question flashed through his mind. Why was Madeline here? She made it a habit to not be noticed unless she was needed so how could she been chosen?

"Arthur?"

The Englishman found himself distracted as he focused on her features. Her eyes were incredibly close to his. If she was any closer, her long lashes would be giving him butterfly kisses. The thought caused his cheeks to swell to a darker pink. As each second passed, his blush became more and more evident. He could feel the warmth she was emitting.

Shocked at his current thoughts, he scolded the girl on him, "Kindly get up as this pose is rather inappropriate."

Madison slowly arose from her position and offered a hand to help Arthur up. He kindly rejected the offer (he was not a frail old man who needed help thank you very much) and returned to a more proper stance with his head held up high.

After this moment, a crackling sound was heard and a speaker projected a voice. It was cold and eerily familiar.

"Welcome aboard. I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to this, my vessel."

Faces around were all filled with a similar expression of fear. Their faces became devoid of any colour it had earlier and they became rigid. Everyone began to desperately look for the source of the voice and finally found it being projected through a speaker embedded in the ceiling.

"I am [Zero]... The captain of this ship. I am also the person who invited you here."

The voice was how Arthur remembered it- cold and demeaning. It was obscured by whatever technology the person used to alter their voice and the harsh static from the speaker did well in assisting this as well.

Arthur's hands were bunched into fists that slightly shook. He did not tolerate that tone from the stranger and bit back the desire to search for the room in which the man was broadcasting from so he could rip that person into shreds. He knew it would be impossible so he silently stood in place while anger washed over him, unlike a certain twat that started yelling.

"Hey! You asshole! What in the fucking hell are you trying to accomplish? Get your villainous ass out here so the hero can give you a nice ass whooping! If you get down here in 30 seconds, I'll be nice and not bring out the nukes!" America was seething in rage.

Sweden asked in an irritated voice, "what are your true intentions?"

"I mean to have you participate in a game. Some of you, I know, are familiar with this game. It is called the [Nonary Game]. It is a game... where you will put your life on the line."

Ukraine quietly mumbled, "[Nonary Game]?"

"What in the blazes is that?" Germany calmly stated his question despite the frantic aura that surrounded him.

The voice continued its speech, ignoring the chatter.

"The rules of the [Nonary Game] can be found upon your persons. They are simple. Read them."

"[Nonary Game]...?" Ukraine repeated to herself.

"Oi dudes! I just found something in my jacket! Check it out!" America quickly pulled a small slip of paper out of his pocket.

Everyone else followed suit and pulled out slips of paper similar to the one America had.

Arthur found a slip in his suit jacket's pocket and pulled it out. It was slightly damp from his surprise run in with water.

"I got one as well," Arthur muttered to himself.

"It seems like Zero was kind enough to give everyone a letter," stated Sweden. "Would you mind reading it to everyone?"

Arthur was slightly stunned at the man's comment but complied as he had asked rather nicely. Arthur looked at his note and noticed it was in another language, but he could read it nonetheless. He translated it to English for everyone.

"On this ship, you will find a handful of doors emblazoned with numbers. We will call them the [numbered doors]. The doors in front of you are a pair of the same. The key to opening these numbered doors are the [numbered bracelets] that each of you possess. Should you total the numbers on your [numbered bracelets]... and find that the [digital root] of that number is equal to the number of that door, the door will open. Only those who have opened the door may pass through. There are, however, limits. Only [3-5] people can pass through one numbered door. All those who enter must leave, and all those who enter must contribute."

Arthur glanced at the thing on his wrist as well as everyone else's'. These were the bracelets the note was referring to. There was a silent consensus amongst the group.

He continued to read.

"The purpose of this game is simple. Leave this ship alive. It is hidden but an exit can be found. Seek a way out... Seek a door that carries a [9]."

There was a long silence in a room once Arthur finished translating the note. The silence was broken as the cold voice slithered through the room.

"There is one last thing I must tell you. As you have surmised, this ship has begun to sink. On April 14th, 1912... the famous ocean liner Titanic crashed into an iceberg. After remaining afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes, it sank beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. I will give you more time. [9 hours]. That is the time you will be given to make your escape."

With that, the speaker went dead and the sound of a bell tolling in the ghastly silent room could be heard. Once... Twice... Thrice... Everyone looked around to find the source of it as it continued to ring.

The bell came from the ornate clock Arthur saw at the staircase embedded into the wall.

Seventh... Eighth... Ninth...

The tenth toll never came after the ninth and its once loud toll no longer resounded in the grand room. It was nine o'clock and Arthur assumed it was mostly likely nine in the evening because the pitiful window in the room he was in was impossible to see through. It was most likely night time if that was the case.

Doing the simple mathematical calculations, he determined that they had to have escaped by [6:00 am] the next day lest they wish to be consumed by the unforgivable oceans.

The static once more filled the room and the indifferent voice spoke once more.

"Now, it is time. Let the game begin. I wish you all the best of luck."

With that the speaker fell silent.

America once more yelled at the speaker in even more colourful language much to the dislike of the Briton. Everyone, save the git, was silent and trapped within their own thoughts.

Arthur began to question everything. He didn't know as much as he would have liked to know about the current situation, but his current knowledge would have to suffice.

Who was Zero? He did not know.

What was the Nonary Game? Why had he chosen to make them part of it? It seemed to be some sick elaborate plot for a twisted person's entertainment.

Was he a criminal who took delight in playing with his victims? Or did he have another purpose? Arthur had no answer to this question.

He had no clue either as to why he was chose along with these nations in this bizarre game.

All of these questions were slowly filling his mind and were pushed aside for a moment for his most pressing concern.

Madeline.

Something was rather off with her complexion.

Once more, Arthur's thoughts were cut off as a low voice filled the air.

"Standing around here won't do us any good as we have a strict time restraint. It would be in our best interests to move on forward rather than to stay stationary."

"Get moving?" Arthur arched his rather thick brow, "And how do you plan on accomplishing that, hm?"

"Are you planning to open the numbered doors?" Madeline quickly looked at Sweden.

A frantic Ukraine immediately spoke, "wait! Are we going to follow what that Zero fellow wants us to do? Th-that's just-"

"Oh no, I never meant that," the Swede shook his head and his reply sounded somewhat annoyed. "We should find another way out. We haven't really examined this place as well as we should have"

"We should examine the place? Then... I guess..."

The handles of the clock slowly moved and the nine people had met up in the spot they had left 20 minutes ago.

Their search was fruitless as no one came up with anything useful.

There was no other way out.

One positive to the somewhat useless search was that they now knew the size of their confines.

Decks A to C were open to be searched through. C Deck was the lowest they could go as the D Deck was completely submerged.

It was rather odd as the water would not rise any higher. Whatever had caused the flood seemed to have stopped letting in water. The surface of the water was still and showed that the water would not continue to flow and flood the C Deck.

North Italy quickly brushed the smooth surface and stated, "Maybe Zero used some sort of remote control to seal a water tight door below us, ve. Our time limit is nine hours so maybe he won't raise it until our time is up."

Germany quickly replied, "I agree. Whoever this Zero person is, they don't intend to kill us all until our time has been strained. Though this guess is optimistic at best. We better hurry."

There were three metal doors on the C Deck. None of them had a number on it or machines like the doors above them had. They were locked and just like the iron doors, they refused to budge no matter how much force was applied to them.

One door was isolated from two other doors. This one had a keyhole and there was a strange sign, a circle with a dot in the middle, settled above the keyhole.

The other two doors weren't really doors but rather entrances to an elevator. The buttons next to the elevator had been pushed many times but there was no response. It seems like there was no power running through them so they were rather useless. To the left of these doors was a card reader.

The card readers had insignias embellished on them as well.

The one Arthur was in front of was rather familiar.

Madeline quickly spoke up, "that is the symbol of [Saturn]. The other symbol on the door is the [Sun symbol] I believe."

There was another door with a symbol on it 2 decks above them. There were two doors on that deck. The one on the left had a symbol as well.

"That one is the [Earth symbol]. The horizontal line is the equator while the vertical is the Prime Meridian."

Arthur had looked up at the ceiling and noticed a large metal plate covering what was probably a skylight or glass dome. The feeling of entrapment was further enforced by such a small detail. The large metal plate looked impenetrable and no amount of force from a human, or nation alike, could damage steel.

Windows were everywhere in the room but provided no sight out as, just like the ceiling, there were plates bolted down.

Arthur sighed, "We're trapped. There is no other possible escape route."

"Well you idiot," the female brunette spoke up, "I'm sure that there is a fucking way out. We just have to get around to opening them."

"You don't know that," the German replied. "These doors could basically open into walls or lead us in circles."

"Ve! I don't agree with that! I'm sure these doors lead somewhere or why would they be here in the first place? We can open the doors... the numbered ones anyway so we just have to get on to it!"

"I suppose we have no other choice than to go through those bloody numbered doors."

Everyone's gazed shifted towards the numbered doors before them.

A tense shroud covered the room and made it suffocating to even breathe.

"Wait! I don't think we should play into Zero's hand. Who knows what he is planning? It would be utterly insane to open them!"

Ukraine quickly moved in front of the doors in an attempt to block them and prevent anyone from passing through.

Everyone began to voice their opinion on the situation. Some agreed with the woman while others did not.

The discussion was rather messy and reminded Arthur of the unmoderated caucuses at the United Nations meetings except this one was far less civil as nations began to shout and scream at one another in some strange attempt to get their point across. By this time, no one's voice could be traced through the clamour.

The noises began to irritate the Briton who had remained quiet. Unable to take anymore of this childish behaviour he spoke up.

"Get your acts together, you wankers! Kindly shut the bloody hell up!"

Everyone quickly hushed down and turned their focus on England. Each stare was filled with anger but he casually brushed it off as these stares were nothing more than normal to him by now.

"Before we can do anything, we have to do something vital first."

"Oh, and what is that you snobby bastard?"

"We have to exchange information. We don't know a single thing about why the others were chose and how we got here exactly."

Everyone fell silent and attempted to distract themselves by looking around the grand room until a voice spoke up.

"I agree with Arthur. I know we all are curious as to how or even why we are here so sharing information would be fine, right?" Madeline quietly stated.

"Arthur..." said Germany regretfully.

"Oh no! Forgive me! I'm so sorry I gave your name away!"

"Oh, it's ok-"

"Stop right there! Don't say anything else," Germany scolded. "Zero is probably watching us so we need to be careful as to what we say. It's regrettable that he knows Arthur's name but for everyone elses' safety, we must hide ours as well as any information pertaining to that."

There was a mutual understanding. They were nations and as such, they couldn't reveal this secret to anyone.

"Well then you wanker, we should make up code names so that you all can protect your identities. I realize that it's too late for me as he has my name but it doesn't help you guys if he learns yours."

Everyone nodded in agreement and Germany was the first to speak up about his code name.

"I'll be [Seven] since my bracelet is the number (7). I recommend you all name yourselves after your number as it makes things a lot easier."

"Hey! I don't want some lame ass name like three! I want a heroic name!"

"Don't make me repeat myself..."

"Fine," the American whined. "I'll be [Santa]. San is three in Japanese so this name is rather appropriate. That and he gives gifts to heroes like myself!"

"So your bracelet reads (3) I assume," said Sweden.

"Good job in guessing that gramps," he smirked.

"Fine. My bracelet number is (1) so I think calling myself [Ace] would be appropriate," the Swede stated.

"Awww! No fair! I should have had number 1 since heroes are always number 1!"

"Kindly refrain from speaking anymore, Santa," Seven groaned.

Ukraine quickly spoke up, "I'll be [Lotus]. The flower has eight petals so I think it's... fitting."

"Ve! I'll be [Snake]! Snake eyes is when you roll two die and get a one on each!"

"Alright you bastards. I'll be [Clover] since we all know four-leaf clovers are damn lucky."

Everyone turned their eyes back onto Arthur.

"I have the bracelet number (5). As you all know my name, I think I have no need in creating some code name."

"I'm so sorry Arthur! I think everyone should know my name since I-"

"What number is your bracelet?"

"Arthur, I-"

"I asked you a question so do answer me."

"It's (6)."

"Good, then your code name shall be [June]. June is the sixth month in the year so it works."

Arthur gave her a small smile so she would understand that he had forgiven her.

With the names decided, Arthur ran through them in his head.

(1) was Sweden whose codename is [Ace].

(2) was North Italy whose codename is [Snake].

(3) was America whose codename is [Santa].

(4) was South Italy whose codename is [Clover].

(5) was Arthur's number.

(6) was Madeline whose codename is [June].

(7) was Germany whose codename is [Seven].

(8) was Ukraine who codename is [Lotus].

The eight of them, including Arthur, had revealed their bracelet number but they were all awaiting for one person to decide his name.

Latvia had yet to choose a codename.

The Baltic nation had not said anything ever since they met on the staircase which was quite odd. He would never be this quiet unless Russia was around.

To make matters worse he was violently trembling. His face had no colour and his breathing was erratic. He was soaked in sweat and looked like a trapped animal awaiting its cruel fate.

His behaviour was quite odd. Usually he would speak out and berate nations when forced to talk but now he was acting too strange for anyone's liking.

Clover sighed to herself and walked up to the quivering man. She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.

"What number are you, you bastard?"

Latvia did not respond, and his eyes began darting all over the place while his tongue wet his chapped lips.

"Hey! Pay attention you idiot! I'm talking to you."

He slowly blinked and then answered her question. His voice sounded hoarse which was strange as Arthur never remembered it sounding like that when he first encountered him on the ship.

"I-I-Isn't i-i-it o-obvious? There are nine people a-a-and there is only one number left as numbers one through eight have introduced themselves. I'm th-the only number left."

"Then I guess you're (9). God, you don't have to be all uptight about it."

"Y-Y-Yeah. I'm sorry."

"What's your codename?"

"C-C-Codename?"

"Yeah like what do you want to be called? We all made up names so you should do the same."

"I-I-I-I-I d-don't need one."

"Pardon? Why wouldn't you need one you bastard?"

"Because... I'm not going to stay here with any of you."

He took a deep breath then exhaled in some pitiful attempt to calm his nerves.

"You've got some sort of plan you idiot?"

"I-I do."

"Yeah? Then please do tell us your fucking amazing plan then."

"Y-Y-You sure you want me to t-tell you?"

"Uhh... yeah you asshole. Why else would I fucking suggest you tell us?"

"Alright. Let me sh-show you... I'm going to do _this_!"

By the time everyone had noticed his sudden movement, it was too late. His arm had slid around her waist and constricted her like a snake would to its prey.

"Oi! What the fuck do you think you're doing! That's what villains do!" Santa ran forward to Clover and the Ninth Man. He was almost there until Latvia commanded him to stop.

"Stay back!" He reached into his pocket and brought out a knife, pressing it against Clover's neck. It was a pocket knife but the damage it could do was all too real.

She was deathly silent, which didn't match the vivacious brunette.

"If you get any closer, I'll cut her open! I'm sure a certain Spaniard would like his little lass in one piece."

Santa abruptly stopped into place, almost stumbling from the sudden loss of forward momentum. His eyes flashed in rage as his lips twisted into disgusted frown while he clenched his teeth and fists.

"Yes, that's right. Stay in that position Mr. Hero. You don't want said damsel to be in anymore distress" stated Latvia with a feral smile on his face. It wasn't reassuring at all.

"Ve! Clover! Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine..." she choked out. Her voice shook diminishing any fake confidence she could have flaunted.

"Now, what in the bloody blazes are you attempting to accomplish here?" Arthur furrowed his brows while trying to make sense of the situation.

"I told you... This is my plan..."

"What are you trying to achieve here? What are you going to do with her?" Seven's voice boomed in the tense atmosphere.

"Don't worry... I'm not going to harm her in any way... She only has to follow what I say and I'll let her go unscathed. If she fails to comply... well... I hope you find a way to reunite all the pieces."

He began to step backwards with Clover in hand.

Everyone followed at a distance. They couldn't risk Clover's life.

Once he was near the walls, the doors to be exact, he spoke once more in the dreadfully quiet room.

"Verify."

"What?"

"The left. Do you see a device to your left? Place your hand on the round part. That is the scanner panel."

"What if I don't?"

His brows furrowed and his eyes flashed in rage as he yelled, "a-are you an i-idiot? W-what do you think I'll do to you if you don't? I'm n-not afraid of killing you. I j-just need your bracelet so be a doll and verify!"

Clover swallowed trying to push down the lump that had formed in her throat. She knew it was of no use but did it anyway.

"D-do as I say!"

Latvia brought the knife closer to her neck and applied pressure so that there was a little nick from where blade met flesh.

In response, she slowly drew her left hand up that was shaking. Her back was to the device so it took her a few moments of groping the wall to find it. Once she found the circular device, she placed her trembling hand on it. The device made a short beeping sound and an asterisk formed on the panel that once read vacant in capital letters.

Everyone then realized that was how the strange device worked. You just put your hand to it and it records your number.

Arthur realized that there were only two people at the door. A third would be needed so that it would open.

9 + 4 = 13

1 + 3 = 4

The door Latvia and Clover were in front of read [5]. He only needed one more number and he could enter.

It struck Arthur rather odd though on how this man knew how these devices operated. Everyone should have had the same amount of knowledge but...

"Good. You're done. N-now I need one more."

His eyes darted from face to face until it settled on staring at [Ace].

"Get here now. I need only one more so k-kindly get over here person with the bracelet that reads (1). If you don't hurry th-then this girl is g-going to get it!"

The man slowly nodded and carefully walked to Latvia. His palms were up and his movements were slow to not startle the trembling nation before him. Any false moves and Clover would get it.

As he approached the device, Ace had faltered if only for a moment as he brought his large left hand to the scanner. This caused the device to once more let out a mechanic electric sound as another asterisk formed on the screen.

Only the Ninth Man had to verify.

1 + 4 = 5

5 + 9 = 14

1 + 4 = 5

There were three people so he had enough.

"G-G-Get back!" His stutter made his words hard to follow alone but because he was armed with the knife, it became a command. No matter how much they wanted to stop the insanity, they could not.

Ace complied and took a few steps back.

Latvia's tongue clicked in annoyance. "Move back farther! You wouldn't want to harm the girl, right? Now turn around and return to the spot in whence you once were!"

The Swede once again followed his command and slowly went back to the crowd. His steps seemed overbearingly loud in the quiet room.

Latvia's face contorted back into a feral smile.

Arthur realized that he was planning on entering the door alone but that would mean...!

His thoughts were broken off as maniacal laughter filled the air.

"I am quite pleased on how you all c-cooperated with m-me! Now I can get o-out of this G-God forsaken place alone!"

Latvia brought his hand to the scanner and a third asterisk formed. He quickly clutched the lever to the side and pulled. The lever made an unlocking sound and the thick iron doors squealed in protest as they were opened.

He threw Clover away like trash which caused her to scream and proceeded to walk into the door.

"Wait you twat! You can't-"

It was too late. By the time Arthur could move his feet, Latvia had gone through the door.

"Farewell..." Latvia waved. His eyes still filled with chaos and a feral look remained plastered on his usual shy face. A monotonous beeping sound could be heard.

The doors groaned as they closed and made a slamming noise as they closed together. The constant electric sound disappeared with the shutting of the doors.

Latvia was gone.

"Clover!" Snake ran to her. "Are you alright?"

"W-What do y-you think you bastard! Of course I'm not fine! I nearly got killed by that lunatic!"

Snake then offered Clover his hand then helped her up. Her knees were wobbly and Snake quickly put his arm around her waist for support. She leaned into his side and slowly stopped trembling.

Arthur briskly walked to the door and soon, the others followed suit.

Everyone put their hands on the handles and began to pull but as always, the doors refused to open.

"Bollocks! That fool! He-!"

"Does everyone hear something?" Ukraine quietly spoke. "The beeping sound... it's still going on..."

Everyone put their ear against the metallic door, ignoring the painful contact of warm flesh and cold iron.

"I can hear something... Even though it's muffled, there is a beeping sound..." June reluctantly said.

"Yo dudes! What the hell is going on?"

Then a grunt of frustration could be heard past the doors. Latvia was yelling.

"Fuck! Why won't it stop? What is happening? Christ! You liar!"

'Liar?' Arthur thought to himself for a moment. '...What in Queen Victoria's graces is he talking about?'

Latvia began pounding at the door and sounds of frantic movement could be heard. The door slightly creaked as he was probably trying to pull the door open but to no avail.

"This wasn't supposed to happen! What is happening here? This is wrong!"

His voice was cracking from pure, unrestrained fear.

Everyone had stepped back and gulped. Something had gone horribly wrong. They knew that much, but they did not know what had gone wrong.

"What is happening?" Ace gruffly asked.

The frantic voice shook once more, "o-open the door! Please! I beg you! Help me! Please, oh God please! You have to get me out of here!"

He continued to bang on the door. The sounds of his fists colliding as the beeper went on clashed horribly.

Arthur quickly pressed his hand against the scanner but nothing happened. The display that once read vacant then had asterisks now had in capital letters 'engaged' on it.

"Oh no! Oh no! There's no time left...! Listen up everyone! I was lied to! He lied to me! He put me into this situation! It was him! He killed me! It was him! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaght-!"

There was a sudden explosion and the beeping ceased. A wave of silence washed over everyone.

Everyone slightly flinched from the explosion but understood that they were not in any real danger as the doors kept the explosion in.

Another electronic beep resounded in the deathly quiet room.

Everyone shifted their focus on the device. The top panel once more read [VACANT].

"We should open the door," grunted Seven.

Arthur then slightly faltered as he placed his left hand on the cool surface of the scanner and the scanner read it. The panel that once read [VACANT] now had a red asterisk on it.

Arthur needed two more people.

He licked his lips and his voice slightly quivered when he spoke.

"Santa and June, could you be kind enough to give me a hand?"

Had the situation been more favourable, Arthur was sure that Alfred would be laughing in that silly obnoxious voice of his.

Both nodded their heads in agreement and stepped up to the scanner. Alfred was the first to verify and Madeline was right after.

5 + 3 + 6 = 14

1 + 4 = 5

The door would open with just those three. They only had to pull the lever.

"Are all you chaps ready? I'm going to open the bloody door."

Arthur winced as he grasped the level and pulled down with all his might.

The doors creaked open and an all too familiar scent wafted into their noses.

No one gagged as the stench was quite familiar.

"...Oh dear," gasped Lotus.

"It never does get too old, does it?" Ace had mumbled.

Seven grunted over the all too familiar scene. "This will be a pain to clean up."

Santa's voice slightly cracked as he spoke, "holy fuck... He fucking blew up like zombies would when you fucking snipe their heads in video games..."

The analogy, though rather strange as it may be, was rather fitting for the scene.

The once pristine hallways were painted in a deep crimson red from the blood. It had splattered everywhere and a soft dripping sound from the fresh liquid pattering onto the floor could be heard. Chunks of flesh clumped onto the walls and floor. It plastered itself on the floors but as for the walls, whatever clumps there were slowly sliding down as it was unable to properly stick to the surface. A subtle squelch could be heard each time the flesh met stone.

A sharp gasped resounded in the dreadfully quiet room.

It had come from Madeline.

Arthur quickly spun around and noticed that all colour left her face. Her knees wobbled then buckled and she fell.

Arthur quickly caught her and the metallic doors squealed shut.

She had no strength to stand and collapsed onto the hard, marble floor.

"June, my girl! Are you quite alright?"

Arthur was quickly on his knees as he put his arms around her slender shoulders. He then noticed what was terribly off with Madeline. Her body was warm, too warm, for one of General Winter's children. She was radiating too much heat and her body was feverish.

"My word! How the bloody hell did you get this fever, love?"

June did not answer. Her face was whiter than normal. Her body began to quiver.

"Bollocks! I'm sorry but we can't let you rest for too long. We must move on and I don't have any medication on me. You'll just have to endure until we leave this boat. Can you at least walk?"

She slowly nodded.

Arthur picked her up and guided her to a nearby sofa and gently placed her on it.

"Are you okay now?"

She weakly nodded and tears slowly fell like a waterfall down her face. She brought her trembling hands to her face and used her sleeves to wipe the tears away.

"Why... Why did this happen... I never..."

Her voice quivered and was muffled by the sound of her sobbing into her suit jacket.

"Why did this happen... I never wanted to see a scene like that again..."

Realization hit Arthur hard and overwhelming guilt settled a place into his heart. The last time he had seen Madeline like this was during the Rwandan Genocide. The peacekeeper had been scarred by the brutal slaughter of people.

Arthur bit back desperation. He couldn't afford to lose it now, not in front of the other nations.

"Shhh... shhh... It's going to be okay, love," He bit back the scoff that would have nestled its way into the sentence. "We just need to keep calm."

Everyone once more remained silent. The atmosphere was too tense for everybody's liking.

The silence was broken as the bell tolled. Its echo was the last thing the nations wanted to hear of at the moment.

Seventh... Eighth... Ninth... Tenth...

It had stopped at the tenth ring and the last bell faded into silence.

"It's ten o'clock. An hour has passed," Ace said.

"We've wasted quite a bit of time with the fiasco involving the Ninth Man," Seven stated.

"Fuck it all! I've had enough of all of you sitting around and acting like this is the worst situation you have been in your entire life! Do you honestly believe that by sitting in one place that we'll fucking achieve something? Hell no! If we want to get out of here then we have to play this goddamn game whether we want to or not!"

Santa's voice boomed in the grand room.

"We only have eight hours left and we're sitting here like ducks! This is an obvious waste of time! Let's just move on and try to fucking get out of here! We can't afford staying here for much longer! Now get your asses to those doors and let's get this show on the road!"

His sudden outburst did not register well with everyone. No one wanted to agree with him at the moment.

A few minutes passed and Lotus spoke.

"I refuse. I'm not going there and ending up like he did."

"...You're all crazy if you think staying here will help anyone."

The earlier scene had loomed heavy on their minds.

The puddles of crimson... The clumps of freshly torn flesh strewn everywhere... organs splattered across the floor and barely recognizable from the impact of the explosion...

Whatever had caused this must have been from the inside of his body. Landmines wouldn't have created such a product.

Latvia's neck was contorted in a painfully odd shape and his face no longer was recognizable. One part had been crushed while the other was drenched in blood. There was no abdomen present on the corpse and they suspected that that was where the explosive had been.

The force of impact had caused his ribs to shatter in every direction and the once white bones, now tainted a scarlet red, pierced through his chest.

Images had soon faded as the American spoke once more.

"I think he messed up... From how the body responded to the sudden impact, he might have run into some trap which caused an explosive to like... uhhh glue to him. I'm not gonna fall for some lame trick like that! I will get out of this alive since I'm the hero!"

"Ve!"

"What the fuck was that for, Snake?"

"Sorry, ve! But... I think you're wrong."

"What do you mean? Tell me or I'll shut your fucking mouth up with my-"

"Santa!" Seven's voice boomed, "Let Snake continue."

"Fine!"

"I think we all were jumping to conclusions too fast... I think the Ninth Man's death had nothing to do with a trap."

"What?"

"I think it's because he broke one of Zero's rules," he stated quietly . "This was why he died. Does everyone remember what Zero said about the number of people?"

Santa quickly replied, "he said 'Only [3 to 5] people can pass through one numbered door.' Right?"

"And?"

"What else?"

"You forgot the most important part," he cried.

Arthur then spoke up, "he said that 'All those who enter must leave, and all who enter must contribute.' If I recall properly. This is where that fool went wrong."

"Ve! That's right! I would give you some pasta if I could," the Italian then continued, "the Ninth man broke that rule. He went through the door by himself so then he had to pay the price."

"Zero must be watching us from somewhere to ensure we abide by his rules," Seven said while rubbing his temples. "We must strictly follow them."

"I don't think so..."

"Do explain why Snake."

"I think it's automatic."

"What?"

Snake sighed a quiet 've' and mulled over his thoughts before he spoke.

"I guess I'll have to explain to everyone."

"What do you mean?" Ace was confused. "What do you know that we don't?"

Snake reached into his pocket to grab his slip of paper and then presented it to the Swede. The Swede looked at it for only a few seconds then spoke.

"I don't understand why you gave this to me."

Santa then butted between the two and snatched the paper out of Ace's hand, not before he yelled a quick 'I'll be taking that. Yoink!' then proceeded to examine the paper. His lips that were always in a grin had slightly turned downwards and a look of confusion was evident on his face.

"Huh? Dudes, you know I can't read alien!"

Seven then snatched the paper out of the American's hands.

"I see but it's a shame, you know."

The slip then passed around from Seven to Lotus, who nodded at the slip, from Lotus to June, who slightly giggled, and finally to Arthur.

Arthur quickly looked at the paper and understood.

"Santa, you twit! This isn't an alien language at all, it's Latin!"

It had been a long time since Arthur had read Latin so he was a bit rusty.

"I'm sorry but I can't translate it for you all to a calibre of my liking. Would you mind doing so, Snake?"

With that he passed the card back to its owner.

"Snake?"

"Yes Lotus?"

"Why is this slip of paper so important?"

"It's an additional note I received from Zero."

Everyone began to crowd the Italian.

Snake paused as he read over his note then translated it slowly.

"Bracelet number (2)... Since you are renowned for your kindness to everyone, I shall bless you- and only you- with information as a gift of appreciation. I shall inform you of the function of the RED, of the DEAD, and of the bracelet. The [RED] is the Recognition Device. It will verify your number. Beside every numbered door, you will find a RED. The [DEAD] is the Deactivation Device. It does exactly what its name suggests. Once you have passed through the numbered door, you must use the DEAD to stop the [detonator] in your bracelet. But perhaps you are wondering... What does this detonator detonate? I am afraid this may be something of a surprise. I have placed a [small bomb] inside of you, and the people whom you are about to meet. You swallowed it while you were unconscious. I have no doubt that by the time you read this note, the bomb will have passed your stomach and found its way to your small intestine. In other words, you will be unable to regurgitate it. I suggest you do not try. As I mentioned before, the bracelet on your left hand contains a detonator. Think of it as a remote fuse, or [timer], for the bomb in your body. There is only 1 condition which will cause it to detonate. That condition is that you enter a numbered door. Once you have done so, the timer will activate, no matter who you may be. You will have [81 seconds]. If, after that time, the detonator has not been deactivated, it will send a signal to the bomb in your body, instructing it to explode. In order to deactivate the detonator, [every person who verified their number at the RED] must also verify their numbers at the DEAD. Once all numbers have been verified by the DEAD, you need only pull the lever at its side, and the countdown will cease. Anyone who does not verify their number at the RED will find themselves unable to verify their number at the DEAD. That is to say, if you should pass through a numbered door without first verifying your number at the RED, in 81 seconds you will be dead. You must also keep in mind that the numbered doors will close automatically after [9 seconds] have passed. So long as the door is open, the DEAD will not function. You would do well to remember this. Lastly, let us discuss [how to remove the bracelets]. There are only 2 ways to do so. One: You escape from this ship. Two: Your heart rate reaches zero. In other words, once the bracelet is taken outside the confines of the ship, or detects that its wearer's heartbeat has fallen to zero, it will shut down automatically. There is no other way to remove your bracelet. If you attempt to force it off, or disable the detonator, the bomb within you will immediately explode. This is all the information which I can impart to you. How you choose to use it is for you to decide. If used wisely, you can eliminate those who might be a danger to you. For a time, you would be able to control your fate. I wish you the best of luck."

Once the message had been read, Snake folded the paper up and returned it to his pocket.

There was a mutual consensus. Everyone understood what to do and that they couldn't question the information Zero had given them.

Santa had been stupid enough to try and test his statement to rid of the bomb but was promptly beaten down by Arthur. No one was going to barf in front of him thank you very much.

Others had gone rigid and reluctantly placed their hands over their abdomens or just stared at the LCD display on their bracelets.

After berating Santa, Arthur asked a simple question.

"Does anyone have any information on the person whose name is Zero?"

Santa was the first to speak.

"I saw the villain before he grabbed me but the bastard kept his face under a creepy gas mask! It was like he was some sort of ghost!"

Everyone soon voiced their response and there was one thing for certain, everyone had gone through the exact same thing.

Everyone had been abducted from their homes at midnight. The person who called himself Zero was wearing a gas mask and when they encountered him, a white smoke knocked them out. When they awoke, they were in an unfamiliar room on the D Deck that were all exactly the same.

Seven's story was the same, but it was off as he did not elaborate on certain parts.

No one decided that it was worthy to press into so the issue was overlooked.

There was one other detail that wasn't so important but made their story a tad different from the others. The Italy siblings had woken up in the same room, but Arthur brushed that off. Both were cowardly and the thoughts of them solving the puzzle while freaking out made the Englishman chuckle a bit.

"What a strange bunch we are," Arthur muttered to himself a little too loudly.

Santa immediately looked at Arthur and then to the group.

"You know... we could figure out who Zero is from analyzing everyone's relationship to one another."

"I suppose we could. If we connect the dots in the correct way, we'll learn who is innocent and who is not," the German replied.

"I suppose whoever did this is incredibly rich," Lotus stated.

"I disagree. I think this was the work of an organization rather than an individual. The person we know as Zero must be their leader," Ace replied.

"So it could be a research group of some sorts doing some illegal psychological test. We really don't know..." June resigned.

"Fucked up experiments are fucked up. Honestly! Have these people ever heard of the law? They be hurting on my freedom and liberty! Like murder ain't cool bro. Whoever this Zero dude is, he must be fucked up in more ways than one to do shifty shit like this! Criminals are just as bad as ghosts and if one man did this alone... he needs to get some better hobbies after his nice long time in a padded cell."

The useless discussion had continued and by the time they realized this, they had used 1.5 of their precious nine hours.

"Okay dudes! It's time for us to stop being like sitting ducks and actually get into action! We only have 7.5 hours left!"

No one voiced any distaste over the decision.

"Very well," Ace replied. "We must go through the doors if we wish to proceed."

"I guess it is time to start this 'game,'" Seven stated.

"Finally you bastards decided to do something useful. Now get your damn asses to those doors," Clover yelled.

"I supposed we must," Lotus replied.

"Let's just try to stick to the rules, ve!"

"But... we have yet to decide what door we all will go through..." June's reply made everyone turn their gaze onto her.

"She's right. Who will go through door [4] and who will go through [5]. Might I remind you of a certain twat's mess up behind a certain door."

"I'm not going through door [5]," Lotus said, her eyes beginning to swim with tears.

"That rules one of us out from going through door [5]," grunted Ace.

"Sorry but the hero refuses to trudge though blood and ruin his awesome new shoes."

"And another."

"What the bloody hell is your problem Santa! In all my years, I have never heard such a ridiculous excuse!"

"Sorry Artie, but I refuse to stop smelling like Old Spice. The smell of blood never did well in wooing the pretty ladies, am I right?" He then shot a quick wink at June who could only glare at his stupidity.

"Fine, I'll go through door [5] if everyone is going to be so picky," Seven stated. "I need others to accompany me though."

Everyone was quiet until Snake spoke.

"Ve! I'll follow you Seven!"

"What you bastard?"

"I'll be fine, Clover. Seven always has-"

"I'm coming with you! I refuse to let you be alone with that potato-eating bastard!"

"Yay!"

The Swede walked up to the little group and gave his answer, "I'll join your party. Our problem is solved."

7 + 2 + 4 + 1 = 14

1 + 4 = 5

"Finally you bastards did something right. Let's go now."

"Wait," Seven interrupted the female Italian's chipper mood. "We need to confirm that the other four can pass through door [4]."

Only Lotus, Santa, June and Arthur remained.

Arthur did the simple math quickly in his head.

8 + 3 + 6 + 5 = 22

2 + 2 = 4

"We'll be fine," Arthur replied. "Our digital route is 4."

"Then we'll be fine if you all carry on through door [5]," June stated.

"Sweet! This worked out rather well," Santa exclaimed.

Arthur then processed what had happened.

Door [5] would be entered by Seven, Snake, Clover and Ace.

Door [4] would be entered by Lotus, Santa, June, and himself.

Arthur's brows furrowed as he began to question himself. Did he want to go through door [4]?

Beyond door [5] laid Latvia's carcass, which he would have liked to have examined further if given the opportunity.

He knew that both Santa and Lotus would not go through door [5] so he would not be grouped with them. It would be difficult to drag June with him as he didn't want to spark another horrific memory.

Arthur was at a loss as to what to do.

If he remained quiet and followed the arranged set up, he would go through door [4]. If he wanted to go through [5], the arrangements would have to be altered.

He mulled over his thoughts until Ace spoke, shattering his thoughts.

"I suppose we should stop dilly-dallying and move out seeing as we have reached a conclusion."

He made his way to door [5]. Clover, Snake and Seven followed suit.

Arthur...

* * *

><p><strong>Proceed to:<strong>

**Door [4]**

_Or_

**Door [5]**

* * *

><p><strong>Quick overview for those who have completed this room previously:<strong>

Arthur meets up with his fellow nations. Zero makes his return and explains the rules of the Nonary Game. The Ninth Man dies as a result of not following the set rules.

Arthur chooses whether to go through door [4] or door [5].

* * *

><p>AN: This is the point in the story where you start making your own decisions as to where you want to go. Keep in mind that once you made your choice, you should not go back or that will ruin the surprise.

The next update will be a major one comprising off all the parts to the story so that you all may fully enjoy this interactive story game.

Comments, criticisms and questions are welcomed.

I also want to thank my proofreader, Irregular Incurve, for her hard work. Without her, this thing would be a mess. I recommend you all read her stories.


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